Many years ago, I joined a warship which was named after a
castle. The castle proper is a humble pile of stones compared with many of
Britain's fine castles, some still being lived in to this day, but its name ranks
as high as any in British history. It has a view without equal! It
is Tintagel Castle in Cornwall, and I joined HMS Tintagel Castle.

At that time I was 16½ years
of age [having joined the Navy when aged 15¼ at HMS Ganges at Shotley
near Ipswich Suffolk] and I was a Boy Telegraphist: the date was the 8th
February 1955. Not long before in late 1954, the ship had made the local
and then the national headlines because two crew members, one a seaman and the
other a national serviceman cook had had a quarrel which resulted in the seaman
stabbing to death the cook. Also, shortly after I joined, a leading seaman
called Jan Trigg set fire to the 'tiller flat' [part of the stern end of the
ship] as an act of arson, and so the ship had gained a name for infamous acts
and I recall my mothers letters to me being pre occupied with my safety.
On the pluses side, HMS Tintagel Castle had taken part in either the film
"THE CRUEL SEA" or "ABOVE US THE WAVES", and I remember watching the <correct>
film and proudly pointing out to the uninitiated 'my' ship: the only
problem was that the films were about WW2 stories and the ship should have been
dressed accordingly i.e., wearing the pennant numbers K399 instead of F399.

The ship had the pennant numbers
F399 painted on its sides and its stern <F = Frigate>, but in reality she was built for the
second world war as a Corvette, and earned Battle Honours
escorting Convoys and seeing-off German U-Boats in the Atlantic* - the letter C
in Corvette couldn't be used
because it was reserved for Cruisers, and in any
event ships were grouped under Flags of the alphabet and not as the first letter
in their type of ship name. Corvettes just happened to come under Flag K
Superior so they had to use the letter K. In 1943, the Admiral brought
back the term 'frigate' to designate a new class of twin-screwed escort vessels:
since the Castle-class had but a single screw, they were definitely NOT
frigates. She was one of several based in the Second
Training Squadron on Portland Dorset, engaged in anti submarine warfare [ASW]
training for the many students belonging to the TAS [Torpedo Anti Submarine]
branch accommodated ashore in the near-by naval establishment of HMS Osprey.
I can vividly remember my first experiences at sea, learning what being in the
Royal Navy was all about. I can't say that I enjoyed all of my
experiences, but I did learn and grew to accept my lot with confidence, and
after a time, the bad sides were much easy to bear when one realised that ones
peers were sharing the same feelings. However, it couldn't have been all
bad for I went on to serve thirty years, leaving the navy when I was 45.

There were many of these small
Castle Class Corvettes built [some 40 I believe] but not all served in the Royal
Navy, some being sold to friendly countries fighting against the axis forces on
the side of the allies, or, if sold after the war, to former brothers-in-arms. I
left the ship to join the massive aircraft carrier HMS Eagle, and from
there I joined HMS Tyne for the Suez War of the last quarter of 1956.
In 1952, twentyfour Castle Class Frigates were operational on the books of the
Royal Navy, Tintagel being one of them, but also at that period, there
were thirtynine British merchant ships also named after a castle - and a couple
chose the same castles as did the R.N., - sailing on the high seas! For me, as a 'radio
tenderfoot' as it were, things could have been confusing especially when one
realises that ships have at least TWO NAMES each and that warships have THREE
NAMES each. In the case of a merchantship, her size, superstructure and
company colours marks her out for how she earns her living <passenger liner, oil
tanker, cargo carrier etc> but after that, next comes her name and radio
international callsign; her place of registration, painted on the stern, could
also be used for recognition. A warship has a name, a radio callsign, but
also a visual callsign [a pennant number], and a true expert in warship
recognition would need but one of these names to recognise the ship.
Obviously, one can tell by the colour, size, overall shape etc what type of a
warship the vessel is, and moreover, the prefix SS or RMS would apply to the
merchantman whereas, the British warship has the prefix HMS [Her Majesty's
Ship], but we will ignore these facts, and the facts presented by the ships
ensign for the purposes of this page.

Now, there is an
EXCELLENT reason for me mentioning CASTLE class warships and merchantships
together here, because the truth of the matter is that at least one of those
merchantmen
became a warship, in fact, an AIRCRAFT CARRIER,
and, after the war, for many a long year, these ships sailed under the
BLUE DUSTER
instead of the RED DUSTER,
meaning that their Masters were ex R.N., officers or were officers in the
various Naval Reserves [RNR, RNVR etc] and not just Master Mariners in the
Merchant Navy: the word 'just' is not intended to be a put-down - far far from
it!

The following text tells their story
which is of great interest to us historically as a maritime nation.
Tonnage cannot be compared because for merchant ships it is GROSS tonnage, a
measure of carrying capacity where 100 cubic feet = 1 ton, whereas for warships
it is DISPLACEMENT tonnage, actual weight of the ship when fully armed, crewed,
fuelled and watered, but the Castle merchantman would have dwarfed the Castle
warship.

As fate
would have it, the Second World War was declared on 3rd
September 1939 before the new service was able to settle down
and become established. All the mailships were conscripted into
government service as either armed merchant cruisers or
troopships. The mail run, in the meantime, was serviced by
smaller, older passenger ships, namely the "Dunbar Castle", the
"Llandovery Castle", the "Llandaff Castle", the "Llanstephan
Castle" and the ageing "Gloucester Castle".

The
fleet suffered quite extensively and most of the surviving
vessels required a lot of work done to them before they could be
returned to commercial operations. The "Pretoria Castle",
completed in 1939, was converted by the navy into an aircraft
carrier and it took until March 1947 to restore her to passenger
ship status with a new name, the "Warwick Castle" - * See below for picture. . New buildings
were resumed and in 1948 two 28705-ton steam turbined mailships
entered service, the "Pretoria Castle" and the third "Edinburgh
Castle". These were followed in 1950 by the 18400-ton
"Bloemfontein Castle" which was intended to provide a reasonably
priced passage for emigrants to South Africa and Rhodesia. The
need never arose and the vessel was, consequently, re-deployed
on a one-ship, economy class only, intermediate service from
London to Beira via the Cape. The 17 knot ship was always the
'odd one out' and in 1959 she was sold to the Greek-owned
Chandris Line.

During
1950/51 smaller steam-turbined vessels, the "Rhodesia Castle",
the "Kenya Castle" and the "Braemar Castle" were completed for
the round Africa service to join the pre-war built motor ships "Dunnottar
Castle", the "Durban Castle" and the "Warwick Castle", all built
between 1936 and 1939. The round Africa service was operated
alternately via the Cape and via the Suez Canal from London, the
journey time being approximately 6 weeks.

"Pretoria Castle" (Photo: UCPSC
15/175)

"Edinburgh Castle" (Photo: UCPSC
23/200)

The
company was also trading with refrigerated fruit ships and
general cargo vessels but after the war it faced fierce
competition for freight from old established companies including
Sir Nicholas Cayzer's Clan Line and Lord Vestey's Blue Star
Line. Common-sense prevailed to prevent counter-productive
rivalry and in 1956 the Union-Castle Line and Clan Line merged
under the umbrella of the British and Commonwealth Shipping Co.
However, the companies maintained their individual identities
with only a double house flag to notify a change of ownership.

By
the end of the 1950's the passage time to Cape Town was down to
13 days but an 11 day service was envisaged and in 1957
construction of the 28582-ton, steam turbined "Pendennis Castle"
was commenced. With accommodation for 187 first-class and 475
tourist-class passengers she entered service in 1959 and was
quickly followed in 1960 and 1961 by the "Windsor Castle" and
the "Transvaal Castle".

Also
by the end of the 1950's the Union-Castle Line was co-operating
very closely with the South African Marine Corporation (Safmarine)}
and already one of the general cargo ships the "Drakensberg
Castle" was sailing under the South African flag. In 1966,
however, it was the turn of the passenger liners and the
"Pretoria Castle" and the "Transvaal Castle" were renamed "SA
Oranje" and the "SA Vaal" and eventually re-registered in the
Republic of South Africa.

The "Llandaff Castle"

The " Pendennis Castle"

In 1965
the fleet of seven mail ships necessary for the 11 day, weekly
service was completed with the construction of the fast cargo
liners the "Good Hope Castle" and the "Southampton Castle. These
vessels had accommodation for 12 first-class passengers mainly
for people wishing to travel to St Helena and the Ascension
Island.

The
Union-Castle Line had never been interested in holiday cruising,
that is, until 1964 when the company took over the operation of
the former Pacific Steam Navigation Co's "Reina del Mar" which
was operating out of Southampton. but she did not officially
join the fleet, without a name change, until her purchase had
been negotiated in 1973.

However,
the face of British shipping was about to change, due mainly to
the invention of the jet engine and the building of faster,
safer aircraft. When the De Havilland "Comet" took to the air,
mail could be delivered around the world far quicker than by
sea. The Boeing 747 "Jumbo Jet" enabled the mass transportation
of people by air. The days of the passenger liner and the
regular mail services by sea were numbered. Consequently, in
1977 the passenger/cargo vessel "Southampton Castle" made the
last Cape mail run from Southampton to Cape Town. However, the
last ship to fly the mail pennant for the Union-Castle Mail
Steamship Co was the "Kinpurnie Castle" (ex Clan Ross) . She
carried the mail on a voyage from Southampton to Durban calling
at the Ascension Islands, St Helena, Cape Town, Port Elizabeth
and East London.

Also
in 1977, on 19th September, the "Windsor Castle" returned to
Southampton at the conclusion of the last mail run, 120 years
and 4 days after the "Dane" set sail on the first epic voyage.
The Union-Castle mailships would no longer depart from
Southampton meticulously at 4 o'clock on a Thursday afternoon, a
sailing which was only delayed once when the vessel waited one
hour for Sir Winston Churchill to board.

During
the 1980's a new breed of cargo carrier, the container ship, was
introduced which made the operation of small cargo vessels
un-competitive. As a result, the British and Commonwealth
Shipping Group abandoned it's shipping operations and the
Union-Castle Mail Steamship Co. ceased to operate.

Previously [some many
months ago] I had published all British warship callsigns operational in 1952 -
see here KEY TO
1952 SHIPS AND THEIR CALLSIGNS and I thought it fitting for this story at least,
to publish the Castle Class Frigate callsigns and the Castle Named Merchantship
radio callsigns together, so here goes:-

WARSHIPS

MERCHANTSHIPS

NAME

CALLSIGN

NAME

CALLSIGN

ALLINGTON CASTLE

MZRZ

-

-

ALNWICK CASTLE

MWQF

-

-

AMBERLEY CASTLE

MWLC

-

-

-

-

ATHLONE CASTLE

GYTK

-

-

ARUNDEL CASTLE

GCZL

BAMBOROUGH CASTLE

MWQL

-

-

-

-

BARRY CASTLE

MCSF

BERKELEY CASTLE

MWLD

-

-

-

-

BEAUMARIS CASTLE

GJWR

-

-

BLOEMFONTEIN CASTLE

GGCR

-

-

BRAEMAR CASTLE

GNZC

-

-

BRECON CASTLE

GJWM

CAISTOR CASTLE

MZSB

-

-

-

-

CAPETOWN CASTLE

GKGM

CARISBROOK CASTLE

MWKF

-

-

-

-

CARNARVON CASTLE

GJSL

-

-

CLYNE CASTLE

GSRX

-

-

CONISBRO' CASTLE

GRCG

DUMBARTON CASTLE

MWLG

-

-

-

-

DUNNOTTAR CASTLE

GYVM

-

-

DUNRAVEN CASTLE

GJYC

-

-

DURBAN CASTLE

GPGP

-

-

EDINBURGH CASTLE

GOHN

-

-

EDINBORO' CASTLE

MCCK

FARNHAM CASTLE

MWQM

-

-

FLINT CASTLE

MWKS

-

-

-

-

GLENAPP CASTLE

MLYZ

-

-

GROSMONT CASTLE

GJYD

HADLEIGH CASTLE

MWGL

-

-

-

-

HARLECH CASTLE

GJRT

HEDINGHAM CASTLE

MWLV

-

-

KENILWORTH
CASTLE

MWQR

KENILWORTH
CASTLE

MQLP

-

-

KENYA CASTLE

GNCF

KNARESBOROUGH CASTLE

MWLJ

-

-

LANCASTER CASTLE

MZSC

-

-

LAUNCESTOR CASTLE

MWLW

-

-

LEEDS CASTLE

MWKW

-

-

-

-

LOCHNELL CASTLE

GOAV

MORPETH CASTLE

MZSX

-

-

-

-

NEATH CASTLE

MCSN

OAKHAM CASTLE

MZQN

-

-

OXFORD CASTLE

MZSN

-

-

PEVENSEY CASTLE

MWRW

-

-

PORCHESTER CASTLE

MWGP

-

-

-

-

POWIS CASTLE

GKDL

-

-

PRETORIA CASTLE

GOAE

-

-

RHODESIA CASTLE

GMGQ

-

-

RICHMOND CASTLE

GCSP

-

-

RIEBEECK CASTLE

GNGL

-

-

ROCHESTER CASTLE

GZQF

-

-

ROWALLAN CASTLE

GDFT

-

-

ROXBOROUGH CASTLE

GBGS

RUSHEN CASTLE

MWGQ

-

-

-

-

RUSTENBURG CASTLE

GNGR

-

-

STIRLING CASTLE

GYPX

-

-

SWANSEA CASTLE

MCTS

-

-

TANTALLON CASTLE

MQWN

-

-

TENBY CASTLE

GSRW

TINTAGEL
CASTLE

MWMC

TINTAGEL
CASTLE

MQWT

-

-

WARWICK CASTLE

GRRJ

-

-

WINCHESTER CASTLE

GTPZ

So, two ships called TINTAGEL CASTLE
and two called KELINWORTH CASTLE - not too much confusion after all eh? As one
can see, not that it is overly significant, that all 'CASTLE' warships had a
radio callsign beginning with the letter 'M' and that by and large, all 'CASTLE'
merchantship callsigns began with the letter 'G'. It seems strange that
the two duplicate sets of ships, Tintagel and Kenilworth, all had callsigns
beginning with an 'M' !

Of some detailed and specific
interest on this topic is my page
WARSHIP PENNANT NUMBERS ? which explains pennant numbers and classes of
warships in the greatest of detail.

* 'Horses for courses! This
web page, on a general naval web site, cannot, nor does it claim to, go into
detail about the ships themselves and what is shown is really all about British
ships which were named after Castles and their radio callsigns, information not
shown elsewhere on the internet. For that type of detail you must read the
appropriate web site as shown in the paragraph above, or the various shipping
line websites. However, Norman Goodwin of the Castle Class Corvette
Association has sent me this text by email, so, to whet your appetite I had
added it here.

"Between the 11th December 1943 when a convoy escort first included a
Castle Class Corvette and 6th June 1945 - the last convoy escorted by
one of these ships, they escorted 237 ocean convoys comprising just
under 12,000 mercantile sailings. Of these only 10 were lost through
enemy action. The Castles were associated with the destruction of 7
U-boats for the loss of three corvettes (Two in arctic waters).
The convoy escort vessels were the hardest worked ships in the
Navy. Not surprising considering that one of the primary duties of the
Navy has always been to protect merchant shipping. The record of one of
these ships is a typical example.
From the 7th May 1944 to 8th May 1945 Tintagel Castle spent 214
days at sea on convoy escort duty. Just over 60 per cent percent of the
available days. The layover period between convoys was in the region of
seven days. During that period, time had to found for routine
maintenance, as well as the occasional boiler clean, training ashore and
at sea. Two to three days leave would be given when possible to half
the ship's company. There was little idle time"